Rangers director Mike Ashley is poised to slip into the lingerie market by acquiring struggling retailer Agent Provocateur out of administration.
The billionaire Sports Direct owner is set to pick up the firm, which has 10 stores in the UK and employs around 600 people, via a pre-pack administration.
The pre-pack process involves a pre-arranged buyer cherry-picking the best assets of a firm at a knockdown price immediately after its collapse.
Agent Provocateur is owned by private equity firm 3i, but the retailer is expected to fall into administration later today.
Mr Ashley, who also owns Newcastle United, is thought to have beaten off competition for the retailer from another private equity firm, Lion Capital.
The amount paid by Mr Ashley is understood to be in the region of £25 million and adds to his stable of more upmarket brands, such as Flannels and Firetrap.
Only last month Mr Ashley, through Sports Direct, snapped up an 11% stake in troubled retailer French Connection.
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